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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Hoping to join a long line of former Devils who got a second chance with the organization, center Scott Gomez will attend training camp with the team next month as a tryout.

Gomez, who won Stanley Cups with the Devils in 2000 and 2003, before leaving to sign a seven-year, $51.5 million contract with the rival Rangers as an unrestricted free agent in 2007, has been in New Jersey for the last month preparing for camp under the guidance of Vladimir Bure, the Devils' former fitness consultant.

Gomez has been working out at Lakeside Fitness Center in Oakland and skating at Ice Vault in Wayne in a group overseen by Bure that also includes Carolina Hurricanes forward Alex Semin.

Gomez, 34, played last season for the Florida Panthers, registering two goals and 10 assists, playing sparingly in 46 games.

"Scotty and I met a couple of times and he still has the desire to play and he would like to try," Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said today. "I encouraged him that if that's what he'd like to do, he'd be given every opportunity."

Gomez will look to follow the similar path to Petr Sykora, who attended the Devils' 2011 training camp as a tryout and ended up earning a contract.

Gomez admitted there were times during last season when he wasn’t playing that he thought he might retire, but when he got the chance to play near the end of the season he realized he was still capable of playing in the league and still wanted to play.

“There were other opportunities and I had some other offers on the other side of it, in TV and stuff like that, but no,” he said. “I’ve still got a lot to prove. I still want to play. There’s a lot of hockey left. I talked to so many guys that I played with. There’s still a lot to prove. For whatever reason, last year didn’t work out. I had some other teams call, but we went to Lou and I just said, ‘Give me the opportunity to make the team.’ We talked, obviously and he wanted to know where I was at and I just said, ‘I want to come back. It’s still there. No one’s writing my script. I’ve got a lot to prove.’

“And he gave me the tryout and now it’s my job to make him keep me.”

Gomez was happy to get a chance to work again with Bure, who helped prepare him for his rookie NHL season with the Devils in 1999-2000. He went on to put up 19 goals and 70 points that season and win the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.

“Vladdie was actually in the area,” he said. “I called him to see what he was doing because if this was going to be a goal, Vladdie’s ice times and the way he does it on the ice, it’s unbelievable and he happened to be in Wayne. And I called him and said, ‘Can I get in there?’ So, it just worked out. If I’m a give it a go, I’m giving it everything and to be in this area again, I’m just getting the mindset.”

As far as first impressions, Gomez has made one with the commitment he’s shown this summer in working out under Bure. But it will take more than that for him to earn a job and a contract.

“There’s no question we know Scotty’s talent and skills,” Lamoriello said. “We saw him play a little bit last year in Florida. He played very well against us, but until we get him into camp, (you don’t know). I’m impressed with his commitment as far as what I understand he’s doing this summer and I believe he’s doing everything he said he is. So, we’ll see.”

Gomez said working with Bure wasn’t about earning points with Lamoriello. It was what he felt will get him in the best shape and get him ready to compete for a job.

“There’s one goal and that’s to make the hockey club,” he said. “I’ve had ups and downs and it’s been great, but one thing about it some of my best hockey has been in Lou’s eyes. You only impress him if you can help out the team. He’s always there to help any of us out that have been here, but there’s no such thing as brownie points with Lou. That’s not the way it works. There was a chance to skate with Vladdie again and it just worked out that he was in Jersey. If he had been in Florida, I would have probably been in Florida with him.”

After signing a one-year deal with the Panthers last summer, Gomez seemed to fall victim to the youth movement in Florida after head coach Kevin Dineen was fired on Nov. 8, 2013 and replaced by Peter Horachek. Gomez had played in 15 of the team’s 16 games before that, but then became a regular healthy scratch for much of the next four months before getting a chance to play again in March and April.

It was then that Gomez realized he still had the drive to play and wanted to give it another try this season.

“For whatever reason, I didn’t play,” Gomez said of last season. “It wasn’t because of anything. I did my job in the locker room with the young guys and one of the things you learn is to be a professional. And then when I got put back in the lineup, you bet it’s still there. That’s the thing. I didn’t forget how to play. For whatever reason, the situation just wasn’t there.

“Everyone I talked to they were like, ‘There’s no chance you’re done.’ That just got me going again towards the end (of the season).”

Gomez knows he has a lot to prove. After some initial success with the Rangers – he had 70 points in his first season in New York – Gomez’s production fell off and he was traded to Montreal before the 2009-10 season. He had 59 points (12 goals, 47 assists) that year, but his game dropped off steadily after that and following the 2012-13 lockout, the Canadiens bought out the final two season on his contract, making him an unrestricted free agent.

The Devils actually tried to sign him then, but after spending his entire career in the Eastern Conference, Gomez thought it would be better to get a fresh start in the Western Conference and jumped at a chance to play for former Devils coach Larry Robinson again in San Jose, where Robinson is an assistant.

“Lou was the first I talked to,” Gomez said. “Larry had called and it was a chance to get out. I had been in the East my whole career and it was just mentally (he wanted a fresh start). … It was my decision. (Lamoriello) was the first one I called. He was the first one I told that I just had to get out of the East and he understood.”

Gomez said he always has had a good relationship with Lamoriello.

“Everyone thought there were issues between me and him, but there were never,” he said. “I’ve always stated no matter where I’ve gone – and I told him this once when we were in Montreal – I’ve never left the standard that he set. I see it more now. It is about winning. That’s never been gone.”

And he realizes he probably played his best hockey as a Devil – under Lamoriello’s watch.

“Under Lou’s eyes, I probably had my most success, so why not?” he asked. “And the one thing you know about the Devils and Lou is you’ve got to earn it and that’s the exciting thing.”

Over the years since he left New Jersey, Gomez has grown used to being booed almost incessantly by the fans that used to cheer him. He’s hoping to turn those boos to cheers again by proving that he can still play and help the Devils win.

“Jersey, they’re used to winning,” he said. “I’m not the only one to leave. Fans are a big part. I still have friends here. One thing about it, I had great years here. I’ve still always been back in the community, in the area. That’s part of the job in sports. I’m not saying I don’t think it’s a big deal, but one thing about the Devils’ fans, if you play good for them, they’ll welcome you back.”

Gomez then joked, “I saw LeBron (James) go home (to Cleveland), so that kind of motivated me to go that way.”

When training camp begins – veterans report for their physicals on Sept. 18 and will have their first on-ice practices the next day – Gomez will begin his bid to win a job and, in the process, win back the fans. He wouldn’t be the first player to leave under negative circumstances and return for a second stint with the team. Claude Lemieux and Bobby Holik are a just a couple of examples.

“There’s nothing guaranteed,” Gomez reminded. “I’ve got to make them keep me. People forget: It’s not like I’m 38. I’m 34. It’s just that I’ve been playing for a long time. The way the conditioning is, the way everything is now, it’s just a different game. I’m not going to have anyone tell me, ‘You can’t play hockey.’”

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.